


i don't think i could stand to be where you don't see me

by intertwiningwords



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Death Note S1E6, Gen, Naomi Joins The Taskforce, Not Another Note Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27624649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intertwiningwords/pseuds/intertwiningwords
Summary: "on her way out of the police headquarters, a teenage boy with brown hair held the door for her, both of them oblivious to the way in which they changed one another’s fate."or, the one where naomi joins the task force.
Relationships: (mentioned - past), Misora Naomi/Raye Penber
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> tsugumi ohba himself stated that he needed to kill off naomi because she was too smart and the case would have been solved far too quickly with her on board. so, naturally, as naomi is one of my favorite characters, i had to explore that.
> 
> also, this fic is NOT compliant with another note!! i mention that l and naomi worked a case in l.a. together but the LABB murders aren't something i will be touching on in this. i haven't read another note, i just vaguely know what happens, so things may differ from what's stated in the book!!
> 
> title is from francis forever by mitski

“L?”

The voice on the phone was familiar. “Who is this?”

A call had come through, asking permission to connect L with someone claiming to have information on the Kira case. He’d granted that permission, eager for new evidence.

“Naomi Misora,” she replied. “I’m not sure if you remember me, but—”

“I remember you.”

How could he not? He’d recognized the voice and yet had never thought she would cross his path yet again.

“Oh.” There was a pause on the other line, a slightly awkward beat before she continued. “I was hoping that I might be able to speak with you regarding the Kira case.”

“Yes, so I heard. I thought you would still be in L.A...What’s brought you here, and piqued your interest in this case?” he asked, hands fiddling with his sleeves as he talked.

“I actually...My fiancé was one of the FBI agents assigned to the Kira case. I came with him to introduce him to my parents, but...As I’m sure you’re aware, Kira killed all the FBI agents sent to Japan.”

Naomi’s voice did not waver when she talked of her fiancé’s death, something he would have found odd if he didn’t know Naomi’s strength so well.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “So, I take it you’ve been doing some digging of your own to avenge him.”

“Yes,” Naomi replied. “And I think I’ve figured out something very important. Raye was—”

“Naomi, perhaps we shouldn’t do this over the phone,” L said, interrupting. “Are you still at the police station?”

She nodded, glancing over at the men behind the desk, who looked both uninterested and irritated at the same time, her presence keeping them from their small talk, or perhaps it was simply because they believed she had no place in their field. She couldn’t quite pin which.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but this case is the first which I have chosen to show my face. Because of our past, I have no reason not to trust you. I will make arrangements for you to be picked up and brought to task force headquarters...If that’s alright with you, that is.”

Surprise flooded her. Was L really so willing to trust her? Of course, they’d met before, but only through a screen, and she had never seen his face.

“Yes, that would be perfect. Should I stay here at the police station?”

“No, go back to your current residence. I have reason to suspect that Kira has ties to the Japanese police. If Kira really did kill your fiancé, I don’t want to risk him finding out about this. When you arrive there, call this number…”

Naomi listened, memorizing the phone number, used to remembering such things on the job.

“I understand. Thank you,” she said.

“I look forward to seeing you, Naomi.”

She was so surprised by his sincere comment, she simply said a quick, “Goodbye,” before hanging up the phone.

On her way out of the police headquarters, a teenage boy with brown hair held the door for her, both of them oblivious to the way in which they changed one another’s fate.

***

Back at home, Naomi dialed the number which L had given her. It wasn’t L who she spoke to, but rather a man who sounded older, and very kind. She relayed her address to him, and was told that a car would be sent for her immediately.

Naomi thanked the man before hanging up, unable to stop pacing as she anxiously awaited the arrival of her escort. She was going to meet L, after all that time working for him,  _ with _ him...And still, despite knowing the detective (albeit on the surface level) she still wondered: Would he believe her? Would his team believe her?

She was no longer an agent. She remembered how Raye would tell her off for her theories and ramblings. He wanted her to be a wife and a mother, not a detective. He wanted her to settle down and shut her mouth, and at the time, she had been willing. But now, Raye was gone, and she wouldn’t be a wife or a mother any time soon. In his absence, she refused to be silent.

And although she had such confidence, in her thoughts and her theory, at the end of the day, she was a woman, a woman without a badge, and a woman without a husband.

But, surely, L wouldn’t care about those things. And Naomi knew from experience, once you had L convinced, it was hard for people not to believe you.

Her phone rang, and she jumped, startled from her thoughts, before answering it.

“Hello?”

“There is a car parked outside your home. Please get into the backseat. The windows in the back are tinted, so no one can see in or out. Please shut off your cell phone after you hang up.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

The call ended, and she turned her phone off as instructed, heading out the front door, already dressed in her coat and holding her purse, having been too anxious to settle down as she waited.

The car was black and sleek, and the windows were tinted exactly as the man on the phone described, and she got into the back seat.

The driver did not greet her, and she couldn’t see his face properly, which she assumed was intentional and therefore did not try and get a better look. They started driving, and she sat in silence, eyes fixed on her own fidgeting hands.

The drive felt as if it were the shortest  _ and _ longest car ride she had ever taken. The car pulled to a stop and parked, and Naomi perked up.

“Miss Misora, I must ask that you put on a blindfold until we enter the building,” the driver said. Without turning his head, he handed her a black cloth which he’d produced from his pocket. “I will allow you to tie it yourself, as you are not a threat to anyone inside. It is simply a precaution to keep the location of our headquarters hidden.”

Naomi took the cloth from him and nodded. Carefully, she placed the blindfold over her eyes and tied it around the back of her head.

“Thank you for your understanding. Now, I will come open your door and guide you into the building.”

She heard the driver’s door open, then close, and then her own door swing open. The man gingerly touched her hand, and she took it in hers, allowing him to help her stand steadily.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice soft and head bowed.

The man hummed in response, letting her hold onto his arm as they walked. They moved slowly to accommodate her visionless state, and as they did so, Naomi realized how close she was to meeting L, the man she had thought so highly of for so long, a man whom she thought would have forgotten her. She was going to help him with the Kira case, and avenge Raye. The thought sent waves of passion through her, the way she used to feel on the job nearly every day.

“You may remove your blindfold now, Miss Misora.”

She did as she was told, and was surprised to see a normal hotel hallway, and the door before her boasted the number 179 in silver letters.

“L and the members of the task force will be waiting for you in this room,” the man said.

“Thank you for all your help,” she replied.

“It is my pleasure.”

And with that, he turned and walked down the hall, leaving Naomi standing before the door. She was nervous, yes, but this was her duty. She knocked twice on the door, and it swung open moments later.

An older man with glasses stood before her.

“Miss Misora, it’s nice to meet you. Please come in,” he said, standing aside.

She bowed her head in thanks. “I appreciate you all taking time to see me.”

There were a few men sitting around the coffee table, but none of which seemed particularly...Well, like L. They were definitely police who had volunteered to work the case. They didn’t acknowledge her immediately, and then only greeted her with nods and small smiles. She figured there would be no formal introductions—something as simple as their names was likely confidential information.

Being the only woman in a room full of men was not uncommon for Naomi. Between her life in Japan and America, she knew the similarities and differences to how she’d be treated, the culturally appropriate way to behave.

And still, she was bursting with her theories, forgetting small talk or politeness, and asked, “Where is L?”

As if on cue, the door connecting two suites opened. “I never thought I’d be seeing you again, Naomi.”

The voice, so familiar (after he’d dropped his precautionary voice filters, of course) and strangely comforting to her in that moment, Naomi turned and was...Momentarily taken aback by his appearance, but her face lit up just the same.

She hadn’t been expecting some pristine and polished man. She knew that he rarely slept, and figured he wouldn’t bother getting dressed up for no one to see him. And despite his underdressed look, she found him generally good-looking and, frankly, closer to what she’d expected from the great detective.

“It’s so great to finally meet you,” she said, bowing her head once again. “I mean, actually  _ meet _ you, not just through a screen.”

“Yes, well, a case this unusual has pulled me out of hiding,” he said, bare feet padding across the carpet and to the nearest armchair, in which he squatted rather than sitting properly. “Please, have a seat. Would you like anything to eat, drink?”

Naomi hurriedly took a seat on the end of the couch nearest his chair. “No, thank you. If it’s alright, while it’s a pleasure to meet you after all these years, I’d really like to tell you what I’ve figured out.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he said, thumb brushing his lips.

She took a deep breath. “Kira killed my fiancé, Raye Penber. He never let me know details of the case, only that he was trailing some people who were possible suspects. I didn’t pry, as I’m no longer an agent with the FBI. But one day, he came home seeming very stressed, so I asked him about it. He told me he’d been involved in a bus-jacking, and been put in a situation where he had to show his badge. Now, doesn’t it seem a little suspicious that Raye showed his badge and then, one week later, he was killed?” She knew she was rambling, and paused, but L did not move to speak, so she continued. “And the chances of something like a bus-jacking happening while he was investigating is just not likely. The man who was on the bus was a known criminal, his name and face had been broadcast in the news shortly before the bus-jacking happened. I know that it sounds crazy, but what if Kira is able to control people’s actions before he kills them? After being released, why would that man immediately choose to commit a crime again, and then just happen to die? I think that Kira staged the bus-jacking as a way to get Raye to reveal his status as an FBI agent, as well as his name.”

She took a breath, waiting for his response.

“Well, Naomi, you certainly haven’t changed,” L said. “This was never broadcast to the public, but I have the same theory that Kira can control people before they die. We had some deaths brought to our attention in which inmates acted erratically before their deaths, and so I must agree with your theory there.”

He leaned forward and picked up a cup of tea from the table before him, dropping a hearty amount of sugar cubes into it as he talked. “And I, too, assumed that Kira must be within someone that one of the twelve FBI agents was investigating, but was unable to narrow it down...You say that Raye was forced to reveal his name to someone the day of this bus-jacking?”

Naomi nodded. “He told me he showed his badge to another passenger. I think that Kira was the one he showed it to, and then he used his powers to have Raye reveal the names of the other agents before killing him as well.” 

L hummed. “Well, it certainly makes sense. Your fiancé was only investigating two people at the time of his death. We find out who he was tailing the day of the bus-jacking, and then...Well, we go on from there.”

“Really? I mean, you believe me?” Naomi asked.

L looked up at her from his cup. “Yes, I believe you. You’ve used all the facts you have to create a theory well within the realm of possibility. Like I said...You haven’t changed.”

At last, another task force member spoke up, the youngest one in the room. “If Penber is the agent who had contact with Kira…”

The older man who’d greeted her at the door interrupted. “Then he was following either the deputy director’s family...Or mine.” He looked down, eyes shut and jaw set.

Naomi gave L a confused look.

“We know that Kira is someone with access to police information,” L supplied. “So, we had the FBI agents investigating the members and families of the Japanese police. Chief Yagami’s family is one of the two families which your fiancé was following.”

The room was tense, and Naomi couldn’t help but feel guilty that she had caused such awkwardness.

“I’m sorry for being so hung up on this case,” she said.

L tilted his head at her, like a curious animal. “Sorry? What for? This information has helped us greatly.”

“And it’s only natural that this case is important to you,” the youngest man piped up. “I mean, since you lost…” he trailed off, looking sheepish.

L took a sip of his tea. “I don’t see anything you have to apologize for.”

“Well, I didn’t realize the case was so personal for more than just me,” she said, shooting an apologetic glance in Chief Yagami’s direction.

He nodded his head at her. “You’re only presenting us with what you’ve found. Whatever conclusions we draw from that isn’t your fault,” he said.

She nodded, giving him a soft smile.

L placed his cup down, shifting in his seat to better face her. “Naomi, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why did you quit being an FBI agent?”

She sighed. “Well, when Raye and I got engaged, he didn’t want me to be in such a dangerous field of work. He wanted me to settle down and prepare for married life, motherhood...The only reason I came to Japan with him for this case was to visit my parents.”

L nodded. “Hm...Well, pardon me if I’m speaking out of turn, but you’ve never struck me as the housewife type. It’s good to see you doing what you’re good at.”

It was perhaps the nicest thing she’d heard L say to her, and it caused a smile to form on her face, and a bit of color to rise in her cheeks as well. “Thank you.”

“In fact...Would you be interested in further aiding us with this investigation?”

The question took her by surprise, and the other agents seemed just as shocked as her at his proposal.

“I...Well, I would like to be any help I can in this case,” she said.

“You do understand this is unlike any case you’ve worked before...And that it is incredibly dangerous, correct?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And you’re alright with that?”

Naomi didn’t need to think twice. She had lost her job, her fiancé...If Kira wanted to kill her, how much would she truly lose? Even before Raye’s death, she had never been one to cower away, although he’d all but begged her to play things safe. “Yes, I am.”

“Well then...Welcome aboard,” L said. “Now, what exactly was the date of the bus-jacking?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> naomi is officially a member of the taskforce. she and L observe light yagami's behavior on cameras, and decide it isn't enough. naomi has a plan on how to back kira into a corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! gosh i'm so sorry for how long this update took. the past few months have been wacky. but happy new year!! i hope you guys enjoy the new chapter :)

Naomi’s information was enough for L to officially name Light Yagami as the main suspect in the Kira investigation. Because Raye Pember had only been tailing two people, and had been following Light on the day of the bus-jacking it was the most logical conclusion.

Cameras and wiretaps were installed in both the Yagami and Kitamura households, as those families were the ones which Raye had been assigned to before he died.

On one hand, Naomi felt bad for Chief Yagami. With no children of her own, she couldn’t imagine the pain he must have felt, knowing his son was under suspicion of something so heinous. On the other, though, she felt  _ proud _ of herself for putting the pieces together, for leading the taskforce right to their suspect. 

Yes, she had loved Raye. She missed him deeply. But he had discouraged her from getting involved in this case, the case that wound up killing him, and she couldn’t help but feel the phrase  _ “I told you so” _ coming to mind. She told him that the bus-jacking was suspicious, and he’d told her to stay out of it. But she had been right.

Naomi had always been smarter than Raye, when they were in the FBI together, and he resented her for it. She knew he did. It was clear in the way he congratulated her successes with gritted teeth, and how eager he was for her to turn in her badge and settle down. She wouldn’t be able to keep up with him if she had a baby on her hip, or so he thought. She probably could have, and she felt sick for thinking so.

And L, oh, how  _ jealous _ Raye would be if he knew that Naomi was working alongside the world’s greatest detective to avenge his death. They hadn’t been together yet when Naomi worked a case in L.A. with L, but Raye knew a good portion of the story. He knew the special interest that L had taken in her abilities, and how Naomi had enjoyed L’s company, even if it was only through a screen, while working such a difficult case.

It had been a double-edged sword. While Raye loved her for her intellect and wit, it was also the thing that he wished he could change about her. And she had tried, so hard, to keep her nose out of things and be the woman he wanted her to be, to be quiet and not get involved. But it came as naturally to her as breathing, to search for answers.

“Mr. Yagami, would you be comfortable if Miss Misora viewed the cameras in your home with us?” L asked, not-so-delicately dropping a handful of sugar cubes into his cup of tea.

Chief Yagami furrowed his brows. “May I ask why?”

“I believe she may be able to pick up on things that may be slipping past me,” he replied simply. “She has a well-trained eye for analyzing behavior. I believe that if your son is exhibiting suspicious behavior, she will pick up on it.”

Naomi avoided the Chief’s eye as she awaited his answer. To be truthful, she hadn’t asked to observe the cameras; that had been all L’s call. But she certainly wasn’t against getting a firsthand look, and that guilt filled her once again.

To her surprise, the Chief said yes. Perhaps it was because she was a woman, so he didn’t need to worry about her observing Sayu or Saichiko, or maybe it was simply because if L trusted her, then the Chief did too. She assumed that it was a mix of the two.

And so, that was how Naomi found herself nursing a cup of coffee between her hands, eyes fixed on the screens that displayed each room of the Yagami household. A young girl sat in front of the television, a wife reading at the kitchen table, a son studying in his room. It all appeared so normal, and Naomi had already begun to doubt her theories before the first night of surveillance was up.

Light Yagami appeared to be a totally normal teenager. Studying for exams more often than not, which would seem odd if he weren’t at the top of his class. And even when the television and computer stayed off, criminals were dying.

It was late, and the Chief had dozed off on the couch behind where L and Naomi sat.

“Ryuzaki, can I ask you something?” she spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper.

Without taking his eyes off the screen, L gave her a casual reply. “Of course.”

“Do you...Well, do you think I’m right about this?” she asked. She knew how insecure it made her sound, but she knew that L was blunt and sometimes ruthlessly honest. If he had doubts, he would tell her, and yet, she felt the need to be sure he wasn’t humoring her theory because he lacked others to explore.

Bringing a thumb up to rest on his lips, L hummed. “Well, based on your evidence about the bus-jacking, I think it’s very likely that Light Yagami is Kira. We’ve profiled that he’s smart, he’s a student, and he has the ties to the police, and now, the ties to your fiancé. However…”

“We still don’t know how he kills,” Naomi interjected. “We have no concrete evidence to convict him, barely any to suspect him.”

L nodded, and turned to face her for what felt like the first time since they’d met face-to-face.

“Exactly. Which is why I wanted you here. Light, he seems almost too normal. The hours of studying. And, of course, the lewd magazine. I didn’t want to make Mr. Yagami feel any more uncomfortable by pointing it out, but I’m quite certain a teenage boy wouldn’t have pursued it like a furniture catalog. It was so... _ cliché _ .”

“I was thinking the same thing. It feels rehearsed. Like he knows we’re watching him…”

“He’s very clever. I wouldn’t be surprised if he suspected us placing the cameras and wiretaps,” L said. “But if he is putting on an act, we just have to wait for him to break character.”

“And how many people will die in the meantime?” she asked.

In the blue light of the screens, she swore L’s face saddened. “I don’t know. But you of all people should know, we don’t always save everyone.”

She remembered Raye assuring her of the same thing after cases that went awry. It was impossible to save everyone, and she knew that, but it didn’t mean she had to be happy about it.

Her silence made the detective stir again, tilting his head in her direction. “I hope I haven’t spoken out of turn. I simply meant, with your experience in the field—”

“Oh, it’s okay. No, actually...You just reminded me of Raye, that’s all,” she replied, giving him a small smile. “He always said that when he knew a case had affected me. Which was more often than I care to admit.”

“I know I said so over the phone, but I am truly sorry for your loss,” L said, and he turned his chair to face her then, actually meeting her eye, and it sent a shiver through her. “I can’t help but feel responsible for bringing him, and you, here, on this case.”

“Please don’t think like that. Raye was always begging to take on bigger cases, always so determined...He came here on his own free will. And he happened to bite off more than he could chew,” Naomi gazed down at her feet, a sad smile on her face. “But like you said, this case is unlike anything we’ve worked before. Any of us. And you can’t save everyone.”

L gave a humorless chuckle. “I suppose you’re right.”

A silence fell between them, both the Yagami household and the room in which they sat still, until L’s voice broke through it.

“Although I wish it was under better circumstances, I hope you know that I’m glad to see you again, Miss Misora.”

This time, when Naomi smiled, it was genuine. “You as well. And please, call me Naomi.”

***

It had been just over a week of the surveillance, and L couldn’t keep the other members of the Task Force convinced anymore. Criminals were dying, criminals whom Light couldn’t have known about. Surely, that was enough proof.

Soichiro had stepped out of the room, and L turned to Naomi.

“What do you think about approaching this from another angle?” he asked.

“Well, that depends what you mean by ‘different angle’,” she replied, giving him a curious look.

L placed his thumb against his lip, a gesture she’d quickly learned meant he was considering something deeply. “Well, this is already the first case that I’ve shown my face to anyone. What would it hurt to do some undercover work?”

Naomi’s expression turned to confusion. “Undercover? What do you mean?”

“Light Yagami’s entrance exam is in just a few days. I believe I could easily achieve a perfect score, thus placing Light and I at the top of the entering class. That way, I could get close enough to him to investigate him personally.”

Naomi laughed, and then realized that L was being entirely serious. “You want to enroll in university just to get close to him?” she asked. “That seems a bit excessive, don’t you think?”

L seemed taken aback by her less-than-enthusiastic response. “Well, clearly we aren’t getting any further by observing him.”

“And I agree. I just think there might be another way. I mean, it’s just a little...dramatic. So, you show up to the same college as Light Yagami, and then what? Befriend him?”

“I would tell him that I am L, and invite him to aid us in the investigation,” L replied, as though it were a totally obvious idea.

Naomi frowned. “I see. It would benefit us either way: Having Kira in our midst, so we can catch him if he makes a mistake...Or, having an incredibly intelligent new member of the force. Either way, it can help. But, then again, wouldn’t it also be helping him? He would have direct access to our every theory. It would be impossible to stay a step ahead of him.”

L took a large bite of the cake he’d been ignoring until then. It seemed he indulged in his sweet tooth twice as much during moments of stress.

“Well, it’s the best idea I’ve come up with thus far. However, I appreciate your honest input.”

Over the next period of silence, Naomi was wracking her brain. L’s plan wasn’t terrible, of course, and she didn’t doubt that he had thought through possible outcomes. But...It felt too direct. Light Yagami was not going to be easily scared off. If he was truly Kira, he had only met every challenge with a direct act of defiance.

No, if they wanted to get a step ahead, they would have to think further ahead, back him into a corner and watch him try to worm his way out. Then, he would slip up.

“Ryuzaki,” she spoke up, and L’s eyes darted away from the screen.

“What is it, Naomi?”

“I’ve been thinking about your plan, and I think I have something better in mind.”

Normally, Naomi would expect an offended reply, the look of disgust that often spread across her male coworkers’ faces when she dared to challenge them, but L just tilted his head to the side, curiosity sparkling in his dark eyes.

“Oh?”

“Let me go. We could have Chief Yagami call home, ask his son to bring him a change of clothes to the police station. When he walks in, I’ll be at the front desk, begging to speak to someone from the Kira task force. I have important information regarding the Kira case. Light wasn’t afraid to directly speak to Raye when he found out that he was being followed. He won’t be able to resist speaking to me. I’ll tell him that I’m Raye Penber’s fiancé, and that I know about the bus-jacking incident. I need to tell the taskforce this, because whoever Raye showed his badge to that day is Kira. Light will have to kill me, because I figured it out.”

“Naomi, I can’t allow you to—”

“Of course, I’ll have a fake name to give him,” she replied, sensing L’s worry that she was going for some sort of self-sacrifice plan. “As long as he doesn’t find out my real name, he won’t be able to kill me. If he tries to kill me, I’ll be able to see how he does it.”

“But what if he realizes your name is fake, and tries to harm you in another way?” L asked.

“We can have plainclothes officers, ones he won’t recognize, around. If he makes any move to hurt me, they’ll stop him. Then, we could hold him on attempted assault and interrogate him.”

“And if he tries to steal a form of identification from your pocket or purse?”   
“Please, Ryuzaki, fake identification is practically your specialty. I won’t bring anything with my real name on it, only a fake one.”

L sat back in his chair, and she could practically see the cogs turning in his mind, under the mess of black hair. “I’ll admit, it’s probably a better plan than mine. We’ll run it by the rest of the team and see what they think.”

Her face brightened. “Thank you, Ryuzaki.”

“No need to thank me, Naomi. In fact, I should be thanking you. I’ve found your help on this investigation to be very helpful.”

And that pang of guilt hit her once again, because L’s words had succeeded in making her cheeks flush, and that familiar flutter of pride and...something else, in her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, i hope you liked it!! if you did, pls consider leaving kudos or a comment, it makes my day!! :)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> if you're interested in me continuing this, please let me know in the comments because i would love how to explore how the series would have progressed from this point.


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